


Ways and Means

by Aris Merquoni (ArisTGD)



Category: Babylon 5
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-07-11
Updated: 2006-07-11
Packaged: 2017-10-07 01:05:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/59696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArisTGD/pseuds/Aris%20Merquoni
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Na'Toth doesn't know what to make of the fiery leader of the Babylon 5 Dockworker's Guild. Neeoma just wants to get through negotiations with Zento and the command staff alive. A couple acts of charity, a couple drinks, and suddenly all sorts of possibilities seem to appear.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ways and Means

Na'Toth was usually happy to take over Ambassador G'Kar's business when he was otherwise engaged; it gave her a chance to show her resourcefulness, and kept the Ambassador's energies directed at the larger problem of the Centauri. It was good for Narn, and it was good for her.

However.

This day had the Ambassador frantic over one thing: the G'Quan Eth. And he had left _her_ to bear the complaints of the incoming and outgoing transport pilots who had been stranded in space and on Babylon 5 because of some... problems with the local labor. After fielding a seemingly-endless stream of inquiries, she decided to find the root of the problem. Lt. Commander Ivanova helped her with a short explanation of the chain of command, and after consulting the computer for a picture, Na'Toth went looking for the dockworkers' guild representative.

She was hard to find. She wasn't answering the comm in her quarters, and Na'Toth was having a hard time differentiating the human in the photograph from the station telepath, or any number of blue-eyed, fair-skinned, light-haired humans. But eventually she tracked down the woman she was looking for, just leaving the Zocalo for her quarters in Red Sector. Na'Toth lengthened her stride and caught up with her. "Excuse me. You are Neeoma Connally?"

The woman turned sharply to regard her, confused. "Yes... and you're Ambassador G'Kar's aide, right?"

Na'Toth bowed. "Yes. I am Na'Toth."

"Well, what can I do for you, Na'Toth? I've already seen Ambassador G'Kar about your ship."

She was referring to the Tal'Quith, of course. "Yes, the accident. Since then your workers' performance hasn't improved. We have ships requesting--"

"Someone _died_ in that accident, Ms. Na'Toth," Connally snapped. Na'Toth, startled, pulled back as the small human straightened to her full height and glared, fists balled in rage. "Your cargo is a damn sight less important to me than the lives of my people and until I can assure their safety I won't move a finger to expedite your traffic. Now if this negotiator comes through with some money for more people and new equipment, _then_ we can start moving cargo again. So you'd better let me go and prepare a few budget calculations."

Na'Toth had to be impressed at the growl on the last few syllables. Neeoma gave her a last perfunctory nod and then strode past her down the hall.

Well, that was almost a dead end. Na'Toth pulled out her reference photo again. Superficial similarities to the frail Talia Winters aside, Neeoma Connally was not someone who would be intimidated.

G'Kar had asked her for a meeting in six hours. She had enough time for a few more errands.

* * *

Conversations with the ambassador previously had made her far more comfortable talking to him about such matters as religion, her personal life...

The first time that had come up she had imbibed a little more taree than was probably advisable. There were several clubs that G'Kar frequented, and he'd finally convinced her to join him for some relaxation after a long day of negotiations with the Drazi. Negotiating with the Drazi was enough to make anyone wish for a drunken stupor.

She had to tease him for leering at the dancers on display at the club; of course, none of them were Narns.

"There aren't enough female Narns on this station," she grumbled after her third glass of taree.

G'Kar was either less drunk than she thought or very good at picking up on specific types of frustration, because he turned to her and said, "Oh, really?"

Damn. She tried not to groan and looked back at the dancers. "It's unfair that the males get all the highest governmental and military positions."

"Females need to nurture and train the next generation of Narn warriors."

"Oh? So if the pouchlings aren't actually in your pouches, they belong to the females?" She snorted. "I'll find some male to carry my children, but I'm too busy to raise any."

"And you can't find any other females on Babylon 5?"

"None that are interested," she grumbled into her glass. She looked up into his amused expression. "And knock that grin off your face. I know your solution, and I'm not that desperate."

"The Humans, among their many delights, have the saying, 'Don't knock it until you've tried it.'"

"I've seen those frilly things you admit to your quarters," she said acidly. "I'm not interested in a decoration. No matter how flexible they are." She gestured at the female on stage, who was doing something quite extraordinary with her back.

He shrugged. "Not all Human females are frilly or without minds of their own... as not all Narn females are warriors, as I'm sure you noticed back on Homeworld."

"And here," she muttered.

"Relax, Na'Toth. Think of this position as a chance to... broaden your horizons."

Pervert. She swallowed her taree and went back to watching the dancers, since that seemed to get him off her case. And she had to admit, none of the females she'd ever slept with had been able to do _that._ G'Kar ordered another round and she ignored it when he smirked at her.

* * *

The captain of the Tal'Quith was still on the station. There hadn't been many transports leaving for Narn, and he was hammering out the details of blame with his employers and their insurers. Na'Toth gave him something more than insurance money to worry about, and got what she wanted out of him.

G'Kar wasn't doing so well at that. Her meeting with him went well until he called Londo and agreed to buy the Eth from him. The conversation went poorly.

She left with orders to secure some leverage for G'Kar's cause if it became necessary. Until then, she was to continue with her normal duties.

It was getting late, station time. She smoothed ruffled feathers, contacted certain informants, sorted mail. Picked up the slim folder containing what she'd beaten out of the Tal'Quith's captain. Went to look for Neeoma Connally.

The casino wasn't a place Na'Toth or G'Kar frequented; it was one of Mollari's haunts, and that was enough of a reason to forego it. But it had a bar, and perched at the end was Connally, three empty glasses and one half-full in front of her.

She didn't look up as Na'Toth sat next to her. "I'm not in the mood for more arguments," she said, slurring slightly.

Na'Toth set the folder down carefully. "I spoke to the captain of the Tal'Quith," she said. "He has provided me with a formal apology for the next of kin of the crewman killed... Mr. Delvientos." She still had trouble pronouncing the name, but she mostly got the central vowels correct this time.

Connally stared at the papers, then looked up uncomprehendingly. "What?" she said, then, "I mean, why?"

"Babylon 5 is here to promote inter-cultural understanding, is it not?"

The other woman groaned and sank her head into her hands. "Look, I just spent two hours arguing with Orin Zento, all right? I don't want to talk about the greater mission of Babylon 5. I just want to kill some of those brain cells." She took a shuddering breath. "Thanks for the thought. I'll make sure this gets to Eduardo."

"Orin Zento?" Na'Toth asked, refusing to be turned away. "That is the negotiator?"

"Yeah. Negotiates his way right into a wet paper bag." Neeoma shook her head. "Look, this is station operations. I shouldn't be talking about this with a representative of a foreign power."

"My apologies." She held up her hands. Humans tended to find that gesture calming. "I'm not trying to spy on you. I asked out of curiosity." She hesitated. Neeoma was staring at her, chin up, those delicate Human features somehow hard as stone. With a sudden reckless thought she said, "Let me buy you a drink."

"A drink." Neeoma half-smiled in two jerks, like the first time didn't stick. "You want to buy me a drink?"

"Unless that offends you."

Now the Human was startled. She looked down at her glass, up again to Na'Toth, who was having trouble breathing and doing her damnedest to conceal it. "Go ahead, I guess. It's not like my day's getting much weirder."

* * *

Neeoma was a small woman, and Na'Toth was behind on the drinking. The Human introduced her to a custom called 'doing shots.'

She was delightfully delirious after the fourth, when the first three started to hit her blood. Neeoma couldn't stop giggling at her expression.

They talked politics, in the most general possible sense.

"The working class has always been oppressed," Neeoma said. "I mean, we've been through this for centuries. Marx would be furious. I mean, if he was alive. We still haven't fixed it."

"Why can't you throw off your oppressors as we did the Centauri?" It seemed perfectly self-evident to Na'Toth.

Neeoma laughed. "Duzzn't work like that. Oh, it's been tried a couple times, but it always ends up goin' to hell. Not to mention if you're working class, it means you're _working._ We don't have time for that revolution stuff."

"So... if you don't have time..."

"It's the bourgeoisie," Neeoma said, drawling out the unfamiliar word into its component syllables, "who wind up with all the benefits. All the time."

"Boo-shwah..."

"People who still have money."

"Oh."

"Fuck 'em all." Neeoma took another drink. "They tried it, y'know. A few times. Didn't work out all that well. So we just... keep trying to fix it."

It got a little blurry after that. Neeoma switched to water, proclaiming that she couldn't afford a hangover. Na'Toth couldn't remember when she mentioned that her quarters were actually closer than Neeoma's. She only remembered Neeoma's expression--wide-eyed, then considering, with a hint of a smile. Human faces were so expressive.

Her quarters weren't as large as G'Kar's, of course, but there was room enough to form a separate bedroom from the food counter and sitting room. "Wow," Neeoma said, eyes wide in the red light. "I don't think I've ever been into Green Sector before, much less into Narn quarters."

"I hear Humans have trouble seeing in red light?"

"Yeah, we're used to more green or something." Neeoma turned to her and grinned slyly. "So, you got me drunk and lured me back here... are you going to kiss me or what?"

"Narns... don't kiss as much as Humans do," Na'Toth admitted, tugging her gloves off and setting them on a chair. "But I'd be happy to practice..."

Neeoma tilted her chin up. It was a gesture both defiant and endearing. Na'Toth traced her cheek with her ungloved fingers, enjoying the unfamiliar softness and heat. Then she leaned down and pressed her lips against Neeoma's.

She tasted of salt, and alcohol, and as Na'Toth sought to prolong the sensation Neeoma reached up her hands and pulled her shoulders closer, cradled her head. Her fingers left warm imprints like foxfire as her hand slipped down to Na'Toth's neck.

Na'Toth probed with her tongue, experimentally, and Neeoma responded, her mouth like fire, their kiss like being caught in lightning. She ran her fingers through her hair, marveling at the silky texture, the sensation.

After a few minutes, Neeoma pulled away, breathing heavily. "Help me get these off... where's your bed?"

Na'Toth showed her. She ran delicate fingers over the slab, then giggled helplessly. "Not much padding."

She was taken aback. "Well," she said, "You can always lie on me."

"Glad to." Neeoma grinned and pulled her shirt up and off, shaking out that soft golden hair. "C'mere and get that uniform off."

She unbuckled and pulled off her overpanel, then reached out and traced the upper straps of the unfamiliar garment Neeoma still had on. "What is this?"

"What, you've never seen a bra before?"

Na'Toth shook her head. "I've heard the term, but..." The straps were taut against Neeoma's skin. She brushed the front of the fabric with her fingers and was rewarded with a pleased hum. "Does it hurt?"

"Well, it's confining," Neeoma said, grinning. She reached up, grabbed her opposite wrist and rested her hands on her head. "Wanna try and get it off me?"

Apparently this was some sort of human joke. Na'Toth ran her fingers around the outside of the 'bra', listening with some pleasure to the soft sounds her fingers were invoking. When she worked around to Neeoma's back, she felt a series of small hooks and eyelets woven into the fabric. "I think I found the catch."

"Yup. Now unlatch it. Without looking."

She didn't quite understand the purpose, but she put her hands around and started fiddling with the tiny catches. Immediately, Neeoma wrapped her arms around her neck and started kissing her again.

Na'Toth pulled back, startled. "You're distracting me!"

"That's the idea."

So that was the game. Na'Toth relaxed into her next kiss and let her fingers drift up Neeoma's back, seeking the band of fabric--there. The catches were harder than they should have been. She growled her displeasure, muffled a great deal by Neeoma's mouth. The contraption finally released and she pulled it off, leaving Neeoma half-naked in the red light.

Neeoma pulled back and ran a thumb around the waistband of her skirt. "I've never done this with a Narn before," she admitted.

"I've never done this with a human." She pulled her own shirt off, watching as Neeoma watched her. "I'll probably need a bit of an, ah, anatomy lesson..."

"Me, too." She stepped forward and ran her fingers over Na'Toth's spots. "They really do go all the way down, huh?"

"Of course!" She laughed. "Is this another human joke?"

"Something like that." Her fingers moved south, stroking across her belly, pausing when Na'Toth couldn't help but gasp when she reached her pouch. "What's this?"

"Pouch," Na'Toth said. "Or it would be, were I male. Vestigial."

"Ahhhh," Neeoma said knowingly. Gently, she stroked her fingernails across the folds of skin. Na'Toth moaned, reveling in the tiny prickles, so much lighter than what Narn claws would do in the same position. It was nearly ticklish. It was delicious.

She took the opportunity to explore Neeoma's breasts, the softness of her pale skin flushing hotter where she stroked. They made perfect handfuls, and the _noises_ that she would make when Na'Toth stroked her thumbs over the tiny buds of flesh--nipples, that was right--and caught them with her claws: delightful, delectable, those endless dee-ell English words that felt like running her tongue over this de-ell-everything human. And so she did, stooping her head to take one of those nipples in her mouth, between tongue and teeth, and her reward was a moan that crescendoed into a cry of dee-ell-ight.

"Oh, God, get my skirt off," Neeoma panted.

Na'Toth put her thumbs in the waistband and paused. "Um..."

"Right." Neeoma unlatched her belt and unzipped her skirt, kicked off her shoes. Na'Toth stripped off her own kit and leggings, then, remembering her promise, dragged the nearly-naked human on top of her onto the bed.

Her fingers followed Neeoma's hands as the human shucked her tights and underwear. "Mmm," she asked, "Is there any human protocol I should be aware of?"

"Not beyond 'stop if I say no,'" Neeoma said, then leaned down and ran her tongue from Na'Toth's pectorals to her pouch. "Anything I should know?"

She moaned as Neeoma continued her exploration. "Just... don't stop doing that until I tell you."

"Mm-hmmm," she hummed, her lips against sensitive folds of skin--ah! Her fingers were slipping downwards, tracing the furrow between her legs, probing gently. Na'Toth had time to thank every god she'd heard of for the instinctive similarities between humans and Narns before Neeoma found her opening, slick with her excitement, and slipped a finger inside.

"Ohhhh--ah! Yes! Good!" she cried.

"Mmmm," Neeoma hummed again, then raised her head and murmured, "God, you're tight."

"As the universe made us--ohhh, that's good." She let her head roll back against the warm stone of her bed. Neeoma's touch and her tongue were driving her wild.

She felt Neeoma's thumb start probing at the top of her slit, and for a moment couldn't figure out what she was up to. Realization made her take Neeoma's probing fingers in hand and guide her touch down and back, to the small nub of nerves she'd been seeking.

"Ahh," Neeoma said. "Wrong direction."

"But great intention," Na'Toth gasped. She craned her neck to look down, met Neeoma's dazzling stare and intent expression. "Please..."

Neeoma smiled and slipped her finger back inside. Na'Toth groaned at the sweet invasion, then moaned aloud as Neeoma began rubbing the knuckles of her fingers down, across, and back as she rocked her hand back and forth. Heavenly. Heaven--and then Neeoma leaned down, and started using her tongue alongside her fingers, and everything was suddenly glorious and _glorious_ and--yes!

As she caught her breath, Neeoma moved up and perched herself over her hips, then started sensually licking her fingers clean. "Tasty," she commented softly. "Tangy."

Na'Toth smiled, reached up and ran her hands down Neeoma's breasts, down the the thicker patch of hair between her legs. Moaning, Neeoma pushed her hips forward, and Na'Toth felt her slickness, and felt her fingers slip past a barrier of flesh into heat, damp heat, so warm!

Remembering, she searched with her thumb as she slipped her forefinger the rest of the way inside, and when she found the correct nub of nerves it was like electricity arcing, and Neeoma's back arching, and there was clenching around her finger and a whipsaw keening in her ears.

Neeoma fell forward, braced her hands against Na'Toth's chest. She bucked her hips forward and back in tiny motions and gasped, softly, in time with her thrusts. "Oh, yes," she said, "Yes..."

"I've heard humans can stretch," Na'Toth said. "Is that true?"

"Try it and find... find..."

Her words cut off and she moaned, then her moan jumped up, up in pitch, as Na'Toth pushed a second finger in beside her first. She looked up into wide blue eyes, golden hair swaying gently. Neeoma's lips were parted slightly, and her eyes closed and she tilted her head back as a third finger found space alongside the other two.

"Ohhhh God so good," Neeoma said. "Good. Good. Can you... ah, can you crook your fingers, rub the inside... front... toward--YES!" Her fingers tightened suddenly against Na'Toth's chest. "Ye--yes, ah!" She panted, open-mouthed, forgetting her surroundings, clenching around Na'Toth's fingers and grinding against her thumb. After one final high-pitched moan, Neeoma inhaled, long and deep, then collapsed slowly forward, curling up on Na'Toth's chest. Na'Toth reached up and stroked her hair, letting her shudder out the last of her orgasm as she pulled her slick fingers away.

"That," Neeoma said into her shoulder, "was exactly what I needed."

"Mmmm, me too," she admitted. She brought her hand up to smell, then taste Neeoma's liquor off her fingers. Musky, not unpleasant, so very different from her own scent, and the taste reminded her somehow of jarwa fruit. "Nice."

"Mmmm."

She was so warm. She could get used to this, drift off quite happily like this...

"I need to go," Neeoma said.

She looked up. Neeoma pulled away, sat up, frown apologetic. "What's the rush?" Na'Toth asked.

"I need to get in touch with my people. Zento isn't going to give us anything if we don't take a stand. He'll just chip away at us. We need to organize."

Na'Toth smiled. "Throwing off your oppressors?"

A hesitation, then a grin. "Yeah, I guess." She leaned down and kissed her, gently, then hopped off the bed and started retrieving her clothes.

She dressed swiftly, efficiently. "Good luck," Na'Toth said as she fastened her belt.

Neeoma stooped for a last kiss. "Thanks." Then with another smile, she turned and left.

* * *

Na'Toth found her in the casino two days later, drinking at the end of the bar again.

"So the guild is back to work, I see."

Her grin was like lightning. "Oh, yeah. You should have seen Sinclair. And Zento's face when he realized how Sinclair was pulling the rug out from under him."

"Good." Na'Toth returned the smile and took the seat next to her. "Sinclair's diplomatic help seems to be getting around to everyone. Everything seems to be going well."

"Yeah."

"Mmm-hmm."

There was a pause. Then Neeoma said, "Buy you a drink?"

"Love to."

"My place this time, okay?"

"With pleasure."


End file.
